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2 sheets-sheet 1. L. W. HARDY. Y

STEAM ENGINE.

( No Model.)

Patented Feb. 2, 1886.

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(No Model.) 2 sheetssheet 2.

L. W. HARDY. STEAM ENGINE. No. 335,191 y 2' Patented Feb. 2, 1886.

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LEWIS IV. HARDY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR IO VALTER C. GUNN, OF SAME PLACE.

STEAWFENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 335,191, dated February 2, 1886.

Application filed April 25, 1835.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEWIS IV. HARDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illi? nois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Engines, and I do hereby declare that the following specifica` tion contains a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being had ro to the accompanying drawings, illustrative thereof, and which form a part of said specification.

My invention has relation to an improved steam-engine, in which the essential features consist of an outside shell or box, with smooth straight interior surfaces, on which the open ends of the cylinders slide, said smooth surfaces also acting as abutments for the steam within said cylinders. Said outside shell or 2o box is provided with side plates or heads having suitable bearings in which the crank shaft works, the crank being inside of said plates and shell. The pistons, of which there maybe two or more, are placed upon or around the crankpin, and are rigidly connected together. The cylinders,within which said pistons work, are made free to move laterally back and forth, their outer ends being open and provided with projecting flanges adapted 3o to slide on the straight inner surfaces of the outside shell of said engine, and also perform the office of a valve in opening and closing the ports. Said cylinders are kept in contact at their outer ends with said straight surfaces on the interior side of the shell by ad- `instable slide-bars, placed parallel with said straight surfaces on the inside of said shell and on the side plates or heads on which the inner ends of said cylinders slide. rlhe inlet 4o and'exhaust ports are contained in the outside shell, as shown in the drawings. rlhe steam is admitted into the outer ends of thc cylinders through ports from the steam-chamber, opening through the straight inner surfaces of the shell on which the cylinders slide, said ports being so arranged as to be opened and covered at the proper times bythe flanges on the ends of the sliding cylinders. The cylinders are provided With central exhaust-ports, 5o which are opened and closed by the moving Serial No. 163,464.

(No model.)

pistons, and also with relief exhaustports, which are opened and closed by the outer ends ofthe sliding cylinders. The crankshaft may extend at each side through the bearings,

to receive a counterbalanced pulley of sufiicient counter-weight to equal onehalf of the unequal balance caused by the pistons being placed on the crank pin, the combined counter-weights in the two pulleys being suflicient to produce a running balance.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view through the shell A on the line maand through the cylinders and pistonheads on the central line, Fig. 3, and illustrates a four-piston engine constructed in accordance with my inventon. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the shell A and heads B B on the line y y, Fig. 3, showing the location and arrangement of the steam-ports. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section through the base K and 7o the shell A and heads B B', and through two of the cylinders E E and pistons F F on the line o o, Fig. l, and also through the steamchest G and reverse-valve H. (Not shown in Fig. l.) Fig. 4. is a perspective view of the piston-rod ends.

Referring now to said drawings, A is a square shell inclosing the working parts of the engine. rIhis shell is provided with two steam passages or chambers, I I', extending entirely 8o around it, with which the steam-ports fi fi and b b communicate, and is provided also with the exhaust-passage M, extending along its top, with which the exhaust-ports J J, c o', and y communicate. rIhe interior surfaces on the four sides of said shell are made st rIaight and smooth, in order that the cylindesf may slide thereon. Said shell is provided with the side plates or heads, B B, having therein the bearings It R, to receive the crankshaft C.

d d are the supports for the adj ustabie slide bars e e. These supports are attached to the heads, and extend in the form of a square around the shaft-bearing, the upper edge of said supports being beveled to correspond with 9 5 the beveled edges of the slide-bars e e. Said slidebars are made with their outer surfaces flat and their inner surfaces beveled, as shown in the drawings, and are held in position by means of one or more bolts extending through roo slotted holes in the heads, and provided with suitable nuts. By tightening or loosening the nuts the slide-bars will be raised or lowered.

D is the crank-pin to whichthe four pistons F F F F are attached. These pistons are rigidly connected together, and, as shown in Figs. l and 4 of the drawings, three of said pistons are of one piece, the fourth with one-half the box around the crank-pin forming a separate piece, the two being bolted together. rIhe piston-heads are hollow and open at one end, and are preferably made somewhat longer than the length of the stroke.

k k are packing-rings in the piston-heads.

'E E E E are the cylinders. These are open at both ends, and are made free to move back and forth laterally, the outer ends being provided with the lianges Z Z, having smooth iiat surfaces adapted to slide upon the inner sur-` face of the shell A. Near the inner ends of each cylinder, on the sides next to the heads, are two lugs, m in. These lugs have their inner surfaces smooth and parallel with the outer surfaces of the flanges Z Z, and are intended to slide upon the slide-bars e e.

Gr is the steam-chest, and a is the inlet-port into the steam-chest, and bis an inlet-port from the steam-chest into the steam-chamber I, when the reverse-valve H is in the position indicated in the drawings, while b is an exhaust-port opening from the chamber I" under the valve-seat, whence the exhauststeam passes through the port c into the exhaustchamber M.

gis the exhaust-port through which the exhaust-steam passes from said exhaust-chamber M. By reversing the valve H, b becomes the inlet-port, and Z) the exhaust-port.

'i t" are ports opening from the steam-chambers I I', respectively, i being an inlet-port and i a relief exhaust-port when the engine runs in one direction, and vice versa when the engine is reversed and runs in the opposite direction. These ports, where they open into the cylinders, are elongated, as shown in Fig. 2.

J J are openings from the interior part of the engine into the exhaust chamber M, through which the exhaust-steam admitted through the central exhaust-ports, j j,passes.

If desired, the ports j j maybe dispensed with and the steam exhausted through the portsyg. i', in which case the openings J J may be closed.

, the engine.

said steam-chamber,are so arranged that they will alternately be opened and closedby the reciprocating or sliding motion of the cylinders, the flanges Z Z of said cylinders, during half of the revolution of the crank, covering two of said ports in succession,while the other two areopen into the outer ends of two of said cylinders. rIhe exhaust-ports i t t i are also arranged in a corresponding manner; but their positions are reversed, so that the two cylinders open to exhaust are always on opposite sides of the engine from those open to receive steam.

In Fig'. 1 the crank-pin is shown at the end of the upstroke of the piston of thelower cylinder. In this position said lower cylinder has just opened to exhaust through the centra] exhaust-ports,j j, while the piston of the upper cylinder has reached the end of its stroke. The steamport is now open into the left-hand cylinder, while the exhaust-port 'Z' is open into the opposite right-hand cylinder. The movement from this position is as follows: The steam acting on the outer end of the piston F in said left-hand cylinder carries lsaid piston forward to the end of its stroke, moving the crank through about onequarter of a revolution, all the other pistons at the same time moving in like manner and an equal distance. The movement of said pistons, it will be observed, is a compound or gyratory movement, the center lines of said pistons and their cylinders always maintaining a position radial to the crank-pin. The cylinders, being confined between the iiat sides of the shell A and the slide-bars e e e e, are made to slide along said bars in the direction of said vertical or lateral movement of the pistons, respectively. From the position indicated in the drawings the direction of the piston movement is to the right and downward. This will carry the cylinders working on the vertical sides of the engine downward, closing the steam-port i and exhaust-port t" just before the end of the quarter-stroke, and opening the central ports, j j, on the lefthand cylinder to exhaust. At-the same time the cylinders working on the upper and lower sides of the engine will be carried to the right, opening the steam-port i and the exhaust-port t" at the commencement of the movement, so that the steam is acting continuously on two of the four cylinders in said engine, and always at the best point of leverage on the crank. The steam exhausts through the ports j j in the several cylinders into the inside of the shell, and thence passes through the openings JJ into the chamber M, and out through an exhaust-pipe at y.

The ports iit" t are designed as relief exhaust-ports, to remove the compression o f the air in the cylinders that would otherwise oc cur on the back-stroke of the pistons, although these parts may be used, as hereinbefore stated, as exhaust-steam ports, and the ports j j dispensed with. In that case the exhauststeam would pass into the chamber I and IOS IIO

thence through the port b, under the valveseat, and through the port c into the exhaustcharnber M; or the exhaust-pipe may be c0n nected directly with the chamber I.

Instead of four cylinders, as shown in the drawings, my engine may, by a mere mechanical change in the forni of construction, be made with only two or three cylinders; but the best results, it is believed, will be obtained from Jfour cylinders.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. An improved steam-engine, consisting in its essential principle of an outside shell or box, A, having the steam-chambers I I', eX- haust-chamber M, steanrports b b and b b, i i' and i fr, and exhaust-ports c and y, or their equivalents, and having straight interior surfaces, on which the outer ends of the cylinders ofthe engine reciprocate, and being provided with heads or side plates, B B, having y the bearings It R for the shaft C, the pistons F F, rigidly connected together and centrally swung on the crank-pin D within said shell A, the center lines of said pistons always being radial to the crank-pin, and the cylinders E E, having the flanges Z Z, made to slide upon the inner surfaces of the shell A, and the lugs m m, made to slide upon the slide-bars e e, said cylinders being confined between said slide-bars and said interior surfaces of the shell, and having a reciprocating motion parallel with said slide-bars and interior surfaces and at right angles to the bore of said cylinders, caused by the compound or gyratory motion ofthe pistons, all constructed and arranged in manner substantially as and for the uses and purposes specied.

2. In astearn-engine, the cylinders E E, having a reciprocating motion at right angles to the bore of said cylinders, the central lines of which are always radial to the crank-pin.

3. In asteanrengine, the cylinders E E, open at both ends, and having the terminal exhaustports j j, and provided at their outer ends with lianges Z l, having smooth sliding surfaces adapted to reciprocate on the straight interior surfaces of the shell A and operate as valves in opening and closing the ports t' and/172".

4. In a steam-engine, the pistons F F, rigidly connected together and centrally swung on the crank-pin D, when used in connection with the reciprocating cylinders Fa E, and shell A, having smooth interior surfaces, substantially as and for the uses and purposes specified.

5. In a steam-engine, the outside shell or boX, A, having smooth interior surfaces, on which the outer ends or' the cylinders reciprocate, said shell being provided with heads or side plates, B il, steam-chamberl I, exhaust` chamber M, and ports t t' i', 1H f5 i', Z) b', and c, substantially as and for the uses and purposes specified.

6. In a stea1n-enginc,tl1e combination ofthe cylinders E E, having a reciprocating motion at right angles to the bore of said cylinders, with the pistons F F, swung upon the crankpin and having a compound or gyratory inotion caused by the movement ol" the crank, substantially as specified.

7. In a steamengine having reciprocating cylinders and pistons therein centrally swung on a cran'kvpin and operating thereon within an outside shell, the adjustable slide-bars c e, for the uses and purposes specified.

LEV/IS XV. HARDY.

lVitnesses:

VILLIAM A. COLEMAN, VILLA B. DONTHELL. 

